7 Ups & 6 Downs From Last Night's WWE SmackDown (Jan 22)
2. Just Put Someone Over
As a whole, Rey Mysterio vs. Andrade III was very, very good, because of course it was. We'll break it down later; for now, let's discuss the finish.
It absolutely sucked.
Fresh off defeating Mustafa Ali early on, Samoa Joe attacked out of nowhere. He went after Mysterio first, powerbombing him onto the apron, and the bout was called a no contest with the falls at 1-1. The former 'Destroyer' then turned his sights on Andrade who got thrown against the post, before Rey went to sleep via the Coquina Clutch. Afterwards, all the work put into making Joe look like a badass was nullified when Randy Orton laid him out. Cool!
Why is this company so gun-shy when it comes to putting people over strong, and why even book the Andrade/Mysterio rematch for this show if they didn't want either of them taking a decisive defeat? "To fill airtime," is the obvious answer, and that only exacerbates the frustration.
Regular readers of this column know that we aren't diametrically opposed to screwy finishes at all, but context is critical. Matches and narratives should both serve each other. Here, the match ended on an unnecessarily sour note through a story that made little sense and wasn't even fun to watch.